Iraq: PM orders release of 2500 detainees as severed heads found
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered the release of 2,500 detainees in a gesture to promote national reconciliation. "We have ordered release of 2,500 detainees in groups, and the first group of 500 detainees will be freed tomorrow" (Wednesday), he told reporters, adding: "the step is the first one of its kind to promote national reconciliation."

Meanwhile, at least three people died in attacks in Baghdad, including mortars fired at the interior ministry, as Iraqi police found eight severed heads in a box used to carry fruit.

Two men died and seven injured as three mortars crashed near the interior ministry building, security officials and medics said, according to AFP. Earlier, an Iraqi woman died in a blast at central Baghdad's Al-Alawi bus and taxi station, the official said.

The police also found the body of a 25-year-old woman, who had been shot in the head. The corpse was discovered in southern Baghdad's Al-Bayaa neighborhood.

Police in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, meanwhile, found eight heads wrapped in black plastic bags and shoved in a cardboard box used to carry fruit on the highway outside the city. On Saturday, a similarly grisly discovery of heads was made.

© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)